The Undoing Of Heroes | ✓

twenty five

twenty five

WE FOUGHT VICIOUSLY. Like caged animals, our fight was in close combat. He had a smart suit, the metal had been placed so that my electricity would circuit around it, instead of into him. 

It annoyed me to no end. 

The helicopter's spotlight burned into my irises as Dan clenched his fist and made my head shoot up and back with a hard uppercut. I landed on the ground, the air fleeing my lungs. Pain raced along my spine. 

Before I could properly get up, Dan pounced for me, pinning my arms to my sides. I wriggled, then slunk out of his grip by elbowing him in his neck. He landed, face down, in the dirt, and I grabbed his arm, twisting it across his back. With a growl, he bucked, flinging me off. I rolled to stop a few feet away, then got into a crouch, fists raised. 

The helicopter hovering above our heads was still broadcasting messages to get us to surrender - but we were having none of it. Our eyes locked, and he spat on the ground, blood staining the dirt. 

"One of us is gonna end up dead." Dan said calmly, as if he'd anticipated it. I had thought about exactly the same thing, but I didn't answer, and instead fired a bolt of electricity when a metal plate shifted, baring his ankle. 

Dan cried out when it hit, but quickly moved the metal plate back with a hand gesture. I heard something creaking behind me, slithering along the ground. When I turned, I saw metal bars raised behind me. 

With a whoosh of air, they fell toward where I'd been standing, impaling the dirt. With a gasp in my throat, I threw myself to the ground, rolling to avoid being split into two when another metal bar appeared. 

Dan continued pulling them from all around, and I moved faster than I'd ever moved, trying to dodge them. One hit and I'd be dead.

The constant movement fatigued me, and my movements slowed just for one of them to graze my arm, blood spilling over my skin as it ripped open a wound. A curse escaped me, and I heard Dan snigger. 

In return, I quit dodging, and began channelling powers of my own. Once Dan saw what I was doing, he dropped his hands. As he did so, the metal bars fell to the ground. He ran towards me, but I was already done, charged by drawing the power from the lines running above my head.

"Maybe you should've picked a fight in any other place but a power station, you imbecile." I sneered, firing at his suit. He flinched, the hit making him stagger back. I sent another one, picturing them spearing through his skin, stopping his heart. 

Perhaps I had grown crueler than I'd thought myself capable of.

Dan rotated to the side, now controlling the metal on his suit. He plucked a smaller piece off of it with a simple thought, then had it sharpened into a thin spear. I had to admit it was harder than expected to fight him when his powers had such an advantage over mine. 

I'd never thought I'd see myself as the weaker one in a duel, but now the realisation certainly washed over me as the thin spear circulated around Dan's head. 

My bolts were missing as Dan moved fast, and I focused too hard on hitting them to see the thin spear shooting off. It impaled itself in my shoulder, the pain instant and biting. I bit my tongue, nausea roiling my stomach.